“My dear, you are woefully untidy now you have come,” murmured Lady Grace.

But Isabel gently freed one hand to put her arm about the girl.  “To me she is—­just right,” she said, and in her voice there sounded the music of a great tenderness.  “Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is nothing in the world like it.”

Lady Grace’s eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah’s harum-scarum appearance.

“I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs. Everard,” she said, with a smile.  “I think young girls should always aim at being presentable.  But I quite admit that it is more difficult for some than for others.  Dinah, my dear, Mrs. Everard has been kind enough to ask you to lunch in her sitting-room with her, and to go for a sleigh-drive afterward; so you had better run and get respectable as quickly as you can.”

“Oh, how kind you are!” Dinah said, with earnest eyes uplifted.  “You know how I shall love to come, don’t you?”

“I thought you might, dear,” Isabel said.  “Scott is coming to keep us company.  He has arranged for a sleigh to be here in an hour.  We are going for a twelve-mile round, so we must not be late starting.  It gets so cold after sundown.”

“I had better go then, hadn’t I?” said Dinah.

“I am coming too,” Isabel said.  Her arm was still about her.  It remained so as she turned to go.  “Good-bye, Lady Grace!  I will take great care of the child.  Thank you for allowing her to come.”

She bowed with regal graciousness and moved away, taking Dinah with her.

“Exit Purple Empress!” murmured a man in the background close to Rose.  “Who on earth is she?  I haven’t seen her anywhere before.”

Rose uttered her soft, artificial laugh.  “She is Sir Eustace Studley’s sister.  Rather peculiar, I believe, even eccentric.  But I understand they are of very good birth.”

“That covers a multitude of sins,” he commented.  “She’s been a mighty handsome woman in her day.  She must be many years older than Sir Eustace.  She looks more like his mother than his sister.”

“I believe she is actually younger,” Rose said.  “They say she has never recovered from the sudden death of her husband some years ago, but I know nothing of the circumstances.”

“A very charming woman,” said Lady Grace, joining them.  “We have had quite a long chat together.  Yes, her manner is a little strange, slightly abstracted, as if she were waiting for something or someone.  But a very easy companion on the whole.  I think you will like her, Rose dear.”

“She’s dead nuts on Dinah,” observed Billy with a chuckle.  “She don’t look at anyone else when she’s got Dinah.”

Lady Grace smiled over his head and took no verbal notice of the remark.

“They are a distinguished-looking family,” she said.  “Run and wash your hands, Billy.  Are you thinking of ski-ing this afternoon, Rose?”